In the wake of an effort to shut down the school’s LGBT resource center, Texas A&M University has been deemed an unsafe venue for an upcoming statewide transgender conference. The third annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit, set for August, has been moved to the University of Houston to protect “the safety for the participants,” the Houston Press reports:
“The climate at A&M for GLBT people has taken a big hit, and right now anything can fuel those fires,” the group said in its announcement.
Organizer Josephine Tittsworth cited the A&M administration’s muted reaction to the conservative protests for the move. “The lack of supportive responses from TAMU administration has been perceived as condoning a campus that is not affirming for members of the GLBT community,” she said.
Back in April, the Texas A&M Student Senate voted to support a budget amendment by State Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center, that would have required schools with LGBT resource centers to equally fund centers for “family and traditional values.”
The Student Senate measure was later vetoed by the student body president, and Christian’s amendment was stripped from the final state budget. But LGBT advocates say the episode has fostered a climate of hate at A&M, which already ranked among the most homophobic schools in the country.
